Tobago
Kinnesha George
Two hundred students from 13 elementary schools, including a school with special needs, across the island, over the next five weeks, will be taught coding.
On Monday, the Digicel Foundation and We Code Caribbean launched the Tobago leg of Tobago Information Technology Ltd’s Caribbean Code + program at Signal Hill.
Teach students how to write codes, making them think like a computer programmer.
Founder and CEO of We Code Caribbean Safiya Olugbala said the registered non-governmental organization is there to introduce young people, especially those in rural communities, to code and other computer programming languages. .
He said the organization is fully committed to ensuring equal access to 21st century education.
“Our targets are women, migrant women, the dynamic able, and young people within rural communities.”
In his speech, THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said Tobago’s development depends not only on infrastructure improvements but on youth development and making young people self-sufficient. .
The prosperity of the island’s people, he said, is strongly tied to Tobago’s economic wealth.
“The pandemic underscores the importance of leveraging technology to boost the economy. As is done around the world, the pandemic carries with it the energy to push the island towards technological advances.
“What’s stopping our young people from being the next Bill Gates, the next Mark Zuckerberg-who says the next best thing to replace Facebook can’t come out of Tobago? Who says that the next big app isn’t coming out in little Tobago? It really can, and how we’re going to do that is to start teaching kids very young of us how to code, how to make games , how to create new opportunities online, how to create solutions to work problems online.
Augustine said that whatever the solution, the young people of the island can come up with such solutions.
He said parents should not be intimidated by their teens ’technology-related cases, and encouraged them to get involved themselves.
“Teaching 2022 has to go beyond the manual mode you’re used to. Parenting in 2022 means you also need to learn how to parent. So if you’re a parent in 2022, and you don’t yet understand the technology -related text week, then parenting is outdated and your parenting methods are out of date.
“You can’t be in 2022 without knowing what LOL and BRB mean. Parents in 2022, your parenting skills have to transcend the physical space and also have to be in the virtual world. To be responsible parents, it means you have to responsibly monitor what they do with the devices they have. ”
The program, Augustine said, shouldn’t just look like a vacation camp or program.
“Let’s start to see how far we can go with it, how far we can go with it. Open your minds young people.
“The world of careers is past being a doctor or a lawyer and a teacher or even a politician. The world of careers is more advanced, many opportunities are waiting for you – wealth creation is waiting for you from these new opportunities in the career available.
